Thursday, January 04, 2007

Look at that child

In a very short span of time Singur, has turned into prime spoil for all the newspapers. A small hamlet which hardly came under any limelight ever, is now in the spotlight.

It has turned one more cause for the political parties to cross swords with each other. In just one month, two bandhs were called while two had been withdrawn.

The condition for the people there is totally unstable. Starting from deadly ‘lathi charges’ to inhuman murder, nothing seems left to be done. This village in Hooghly which was famous for its fertile land and cultivation of potato is now a “land of chaos”.

Everybody is concerned about the plot of lands and their owners. The newspapers, media and general people, for everyone Singur is an interesting topic to discuss.

But hardly anybody seems concerned about the lives of the children in Singur. What are their feelings? Are they able to continue their studies? How are the children suffering in this situation? I decided to find out and headed for the village.

The Tarakeshwar local had just left Nasibpur and the next station was Singur. I could feel my heart throbbing loud and very fast.

I tried to imagine what ‘the land of chaos’ would look like. But I saw the station seemed quite normal, and the stalls there were open, many people were there.

My inquiries took me to a place just half a kilometre away from Khasberia. On my way I found many school students returning home. Tons of potatoes were spread by the side of the street. It can be called the ‘land of potatoes’!

It took nearly 45 minutes to reach my destination. I spoke to the local people. No, the children in the area I visited are not suffering due to the current turmoil.

Few of the schools were closed on account of winter vacation and the rest were quite normal. Nilanjan Saha and Ajud Mondal are students (15) of Mahamaya School and JMI School respectively and are very regular with their attendance.

No, they were not facing any problems.

But all the students I spoke to want peace again. They demand an end to this situation.

Enough of this ‘give and take’ policy. Everything must come to a desirable conclusion; a satisfactory end for everybody. Let’s also pray for this. And let those sweet innocent faces of children smile forever.